Hawai'i Pacific University will confer associate, baccalaureate, and master's degrees on nearly 350 students this evening at its 67th commencement ceremony.

HPU's master's programs in secondary education and social work will give degrees to 12 and 18 students, respectively, the first graduating classes for those programs. HPU will also award its first nurse educator certificate.

Hawai'i Pacific Health president and CEO Charles A. Sted will deliver the commencement speech and receive the Fellow of the Pacific Award in recognition of contributions and service to the community and higher education.

Three valedictorians will speak at tonight's 6:30 p.m. ceremony at the Waikiki Shell.

Veronica Andersson (bachelor of arts degree in international relations), a native of Halmstad, Sweden, will represent the on-campus baccalaureate degree programs. Heidi Ann Greenberg Karns (master's degree in social work), who grew up in Jamestown, N.Y., will represent the graduate degree programs. Lt. Robert Calderwood (bachelor of science degree in computer science), a native of Bellwood, Pa., will represent the military campus programs.

HAWAI'I ABOVE ACT AVERAGE

The average scores of Hawai'i's college-bound public and private school students on the national ACT Assessment rose across the board this year — and for the seventh consecutive year exceed the national average in the composite score and all four subtests.

Hawai'i's ACT-tested students earned an average composite score of 22.3 out of a possible 36.0, compared with the national average of 21.2.

State averages ranged from 18.9 (Mississippi) to 23.5 (Massachusetts), according to a news release issued yesterday by the state Department of Education.

Hawai'i's average subtest scores: English, 21.6 (national average, 20.7); math, 22.9 (national, 21.0); reading, 22.2 (national, 21.5); and science reasoning 21.9 (national, 21.0).

Last year's average composite score for Hawai'i was 21.9, compared with the national average of 21.1.

The number of Hawai'i students who took the ACT increased from 2,260 in 2006 to 2,589 in 2007, or 19.8 percent of all graduates. Nationally, 1,300,599 in the Class of 2007 took the ACT, 41.8 percent of all graduates.

GIFT FROM WASTE MANAGEMENT

Waste Management of Hawaii yesterday contributed $15,000 to Kaua'i's Kekaha Elementary School.

The funds will go toward the school's Technology Enhanced Project Based Learning program and It's All About Kids online supplemental education service through which students can hone skills in language arts, math and science.

Waste Management of Hawaii operates the Waimanalo Gulch, West Hawaii and Kekaha landfills.

KAHUKU TEACHER GIVEN AWARD

Mariko Jackson, a teacher at Kahuku High & Intermediate School, has won a 2007 Leadership Development Award supported by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and Prentice Hall-Pearson Education.

The program provides early career teachers with $500 to attend the NCTE annual fall convention in New York City.

Jackson was nominated by the Hawaii Council of Teachers of English, an affiliate of the NCTE. The NCTE is dedicated to improving the teaching of English and the language arts. For more information, visit www.ncte.org.